


To Consequences of Peace Embraced

by LyingHonesty, Verbophobic



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Babies, CUS THERE IS NOT FUCKING ENOUGH OF BABY FUCKING TWINS, Eggs, Mentions of Rape, Nesting, Rape Aftermath, Seekers, Sparklings, Twins, future oc/twins, grounders, no rape sceens, seeker eggs, stunted growth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:12:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2138256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyingHonesty/pseuds/LyingHonesty, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verbophobic/pseuds/Verbophobic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To Consequences of Peace Embraced AKA To C.O.P.E.</p><p>When the Autobots and Decepticons finally reconcile with one another, the war comes to an uncertain end, and some bots have never known anything else. Cue one of Wheeljack’s infamous machines, and throw in Prowl’s need for perfection, and you get… well… this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Machine

**Author's Note:**

> Because my biggest ship- even bigger than my Sideswipe/Skywarp ship (and let me tell you that's a fucking huge ship)- is the trine being parents and all. And twin babies. So with the help from my own twin we began this. Mostly I started it and then I gored and lonely so I invited her and this masterpiece began. 
> 
> Not really a master piece but we are having fun and this is our project and this makes us happy so yeah lol.
> 
> Unexpected postings, there may be random oop rambling from the authors by accent in here (because we use mobile drive haha) and I'll update you as we go~ II'm Sides and you may refer to my twin as Sunny. (We rp as such)

Chapter One: The Machine

The Great War was finally over, and there were a few mechs who needed to be rehabilitated in the aftermath. There was concern over those that weren't capable of coping with the new peace, too violent by nature to be trusted, or to trust themselves. The Decepticons were the greatest risks (Vortex came to mind), having been built specifically for war even before the faction disputes began, but a few Autobots were struggling to get by as well. The humans would have called it PTSD. Here in this new world, they just called it ‘obsolete’. Mechs who had outlived their purpose, that had never been meant to survive, were finding themselves with no work, no purpose, in this new peace. A lot of them went through therapy, and successfully rehabilitated that way. They went on to help their friends, help rebuild, a few were even scouring their planet for remnants of the old cultures, hoping to learn from them and adapt what they could, without repeating the mistakes of the pre-war Senate.

There were others, though, mechs that couldn’t be helped by the therapy sessions. They didn’t have the patience, and some didn’t even have the will, to change the way they thought.

Wheeljack was working on a new kind of memory wipe, a system to remove the reminders of war and start fresh, without completely taking away the abilities and strengths of the mechs who were wiped. For survivors like Bluestreak, and troublesome patients like the Combaticons, this was a relief and a welcome change. They were the ones who were too traumatized to make it without help, and many of the Decepticons could admit this, after everything they’d been through. They made up the majority of the List, the ones who had willingly signed up, or been convinced to sign up, for the treatment. Comparatively, only three Autobots were listed for the treatment, at the insistence of their leading officers to “set a good example”. Bluestreak had signed up for it willingly. He knew that he couldn’t live in this new world as long as he harbored hatred for the Seekers who destroyed Praxus. The other two - by order of Megatron, who threatened that he would break the peace treaty otherwise - were not so willing.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had been created before the war, but it had had such an impact on their lives, influenced so many of their decisions, that they felt they may as well have been war bots. Neither of them expected to ever see peace again. It wasn’t that they felt they would die first (Sunstreaker scoffed at the idea that anyone or anything could kill them), it was simply that they didn’t believe peace was possible. Where the other Autobots had fought for peace and freedom, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe fought because Optimus Prime saved them, and he asked them to. Also, because it was fun, at least for Sunstreaker. 

Despite this, here and now the two stood, in a post-war world with a peace that was seeming more and more permanent every day, awaiting the wipe that would change them forever. Here they were, awaiting the change that would delete who they were, who they had built themselves to be, and who they would never again be. They had changed themselves plenty of times before, of course, to survive, to continue, but this was different. This, they couldn’t turn back from.

Sideswipe held his twin’s servo for a few moments before letting go, and then the younger twin followed the older one into Wheeljack’s lab. "Hey Jackie~!" he called, regulating his voice to be lightened with false joy. 

"Hey Sides," Wheeljack greeted back, with his own mix of sorrow and joy. He was going to get to put his new toy to use, which was always great news… for him at least, not always the rest of the Autobots (and depending on the explosion radius really it wasn’t always great for him), but he was also going to lose two friends as he knew them today. Hopefully, they’d still be enough like themselves that they could be friends again, when it was over. "You two ready?"

No. "Of course~ can't wait to be new again. How far are you erasing, anyway?" _/Sunny what if they erase too much? What if-?/_

Sunstreaker gave a little cough to cut him off, waving it off as nothing when Wheeljack gave him a funny look. He put his servo on Sideswipe’s back, gentle but supportive.. _/Sides, just calm down. It’s gonna be fine, I promise. We’ll be perfect./_

He knew that his brother was afraid. That he was afraid that they’d forget everyone they knew, afraid that they’d be trapped, alone, in this new world with no one to turn to, no one to trust. It was a very valid fear, Sunstreaker knew that too. Sure, they’d been created before the war, but so their lives then had still depended on their abilities to trick, scam and fight their way through life’s struggles. Too much of what they had always been would be unacceptable in this new world.

Wheeljack had promised that Sunstreaker would still have a passion for art, that Sideswipe would still have a processor for sales. They’d both just be more… socially acceptable.

Just thinking it made his wires crawl. This new world, these new laws… he couldn’t see himself ever being happy in it, no matter how much they insisted he would. The way they talked about it was creepy, too. Don’t worry Sunstreaker, once the bad memories are gone, they’ll teach you how to love peace. If that didn’t scream 20th century human dystopian novel, he didn’t know what did.

"Don't worry boys. I'll only be erasing memories as far as when the disputes were becoming planet-wide." Wheeljack promised with a grin. 

Sunstreaker made a face. He remembered that, if just barely. He took Sideswipe’s servo again and squeezed, reassuring him. _/We’re gonna lose a lot. But we’ll be okay anyway, long as we have each other. Do you trust me?/_

_/I- I trust you. Only you./_ "Coolio, Jackie~ Ready when you are.” It was a lie, but a small enough one that he wouldn’t worry about it. Not like he’d even remember it in a few moments anyway.

Sunstreaker offered his brother a smile and helped him onto the table. _/I’ll always protect you, Sides./_

_/How can I ever doubt that when it’s all you’ve ever done?/_ He smiled back. It was a false smile, one that had always made all of his pranks known to his victims. It was always an intentional gesture, grinning like this to cover up anything else. Now, instead of mischief, he was smiling to cover up what would have been a meek smile filled with fear, had it only been him and Sunstreaker. His twin knew anyway, Sunny knew his spark completely and he was still here. 

Holding Sideswipe’s servo in his own, Sunstreaker joined his twin on the table. He sat carefully, to make it look like his twin had made him, and that he was reluctant to do so. He made it look like he was unwilling to risk his ‘idiot of a brother’ maring his pristine paint job.

He hated it when others referred to his twin that way, hated the first time he ever heard another mech say it. They had decided to tackle different social groups, more so they could keep up on all the gossip than anything, and to keep up appearances, to convince the other Autobots of the persona he’d adopted, he had to call Sideswipe names too. It had nearly broken Sideswipe’s spark when Sunny first called him an idiot, but in the seclusion of their shared berth room - sparks merged and spike deep in a valve - Sideswipe understood. They changed and molded to what was around them outwardly, they had to to survive, but always they stayed the same inside.

Until now, anyway. 

Now what they were inside was being erased, all the way back to the point of early youngling-hood. Now they would need to change everything about them again and be the foolish mechs they were when joining the Autobots. Neither of them were looking forward to it.

As Wheeljack finished setting the time on a dial, Prowl walked in, datapad in servo. “There’s a change in time frame,” he said, his tone clipped. “We need to erase more than the five hundred thousand vorns of the war.” Both twins instantly went tense at his words, fear escalating. This wasn’t going according to plan! They were already being turned back to younglings, not that Prowl actually knew that. Not that anyone left alive knew that. They’d lied about their ages, about the frames they’d been using, and everything else, when they signed up to join the Autobots, to follow Optimus Prime.

Every mech here thought that they’d been twelve vorns when joining, just over the age of being old enough to be allowed. Their sparks being split had weird murmurs when scanned that not many knew about- or rather know about - that passed each of them off as twice the age they actually were. 

“J-just how long do you plan to take now, then?” Sideswipe asked, looking to the wires Wheeljack was currently hooking up to him anxiously. 

“Not to worry,” Prowl said adjusting the dials that Wheeljack had on his machine, to account for the new data. “You will still be adults. We just need to take some time away for how long you were in the Gladatorial Pits.” 

Sunstreaker panicked. They had no right to take those memories from him. They were from before the Autobots, they were memories that the Autobots had no rights to. “You can’t!” he protested, furious. Calculations sped through Sideswipes processor and he instantly sent them to his twin, which only escalated Sunstreaker’s agitation. Too many years were being lost. “That’s five hundred million, two vorns Prowl!” That would make them - Sideswipe again provided the calculations - Primus they’d only be three vorns old!

“I said do not worry.” Prowl was starting to lose his patience with the golden twin, and Sunstreaker knew it but he didn’t care. “You will still be fifteen vorns in processor age at that point.” 

“Prowl -” Wheeljack started to say, tone unsure, but he fell silent when Prowl pressed the button to power up the machine. He should respect Prowl’s decision, even if he wasn’t sure that sending the twins backwards that far was a good idea. The younger they made them, the harder it would be for the machine to leave the traits they cherished most.

“You were extensively trained before the two vorns you provided us in your original application. I rounded it to five hundred million five vorns. You will be twelve vorns in processor and spark age, which is still two over the adult age. It’s not as bad as you’re trying to make it.” The wires powered up, and they felt like they were being electrocuted. 

_/S-Sunny-!/_ Sideswipe tried to get out, to speak, but he just couldn’t manage it.

_/I-I know Sides, I know!/_ Their vocalizers were muted, comms down, as they felt the painful effects of the machine.

_/That’s a vorn! We will be no older than a vorn!/_


	2. Inversed Time

Chapter Two: Inverted Time

When the machine finally turned off, the twins could only lay there on the table. They were in pain, they were confused, and they were pissed. The anger was the strongest. If that machine had worked they would be far too young to survive in the frames they were currently in. These were their warrior frames, the upgrades they’d gotten not long after joining the Autobots (with a few tweaks over the vorns), and their sparks at only a vorn old wouldn’t have been strong enough to power such frames. Prowl would have just killed them if the damn machine had worked. 

“You fragger!” Sunstreaker snarled. He tried to sit up and get to Prowl, fully intending to offline the fragger as he had nearly done to them. Prowl just ignored him, turning to Wheeljack.

“Wheeljack, your machine doesn’t appear to be working.” This fact, of course, meant more diplomacy with Megatron until they could handle the twins. Prowl shook his helm and left the lab, knowing the twins were too weak to do anything to him yet, and disappointed that the plan had failed.

Wheeljack made an irritated noise. “But… I made sure…” He went to his machine, too worried about it to concern himself with the twins - besides, their ire was directed at Prowl, not him. He was safe enough for the time being. He pulled off a panel from the side of the machine and got to work, poking and picking at wires and circuits, trying to work out exactly what happened.

Too drained from the experience, Sunstreaker gave up on Prowl - for now - and turned his focus to Sideswipe, draping an arm over his brother, pushing a knee between Sides’ legs, and tugging him close. _/I almost lost you. I’m sorry, Sides. Are you okay?/_

_/I ache. My spark- it kind of hurts. Might need to bond soon though and that’s why. It itched earlier today but now it aches./_ He was reluctant to admit, but he knew if he lied his twin would know. Snuggling close he breathed out a sigh of relief. _/Feels better already, being in your arms closer to you. It’s most likely the need to bond._ /

Sunstreaker nodded and pulled Sideswipe’s helm to tuck under his own, dimming his optics. _/As soon as we can get back to our room, we’ll go ahead and merge, okay?/_

Tired as he was, and weak as he felt, he nuzzled Sunstreakers chin and with a small kiss to his neck cabling was forcing himself up onto unwavering pedes. The twins had always pushed themselves past their limits and then some, rarely ever wavering, not even while on the brink of offlining. That often led Ratchet to have certain spark palpitations especially after the twins let him fix scrapes and dents before telling him one was nearly skewered through the spark with shrapnel.

Then he crashed when the twins had said in all honesty that they had found ‘facing to be more important than seeing him about said shrapnel.

Even now they were pushing past when Sideswipe stood and Sunstreaker followed. “Sunstreaker I swear if you follow your elder idiot brother I will make sure Ratchet backorders your paints.” That had him sitting back down after an angry rev of his engine. More just to get his anger out at the threat than anything else. It’d been a fairly bad orn he felt.

Begrudgingly Sideswipe sat too, not wanting to upset his twin. They’d somehow gotten it into the helms, all the other bots that is, that he was the elder and Sunny was the younger. He couldn’t fathom why either. Sunny always protected him, provided for him, and he followed his twin with an impish grin and never left the boundaries his twin set up. He tested them and pushed them but he knew when to stop and not pass.

Sunstreaker glared at Wheeljack, watching him fiddle with the machine and mutter to himself. “I think it’s pretty obvious the thing’s not gonna work, Jack, and I need to get Sides back to berth. So we are going to go.”

Wheeljack shook his helm, straightening up. “Not to your quarters, you’re not. I’m gonna tell Ratchet to clear a couple of berths for you two. The machine’s fine, so he’ll have my helm if I let you go unwatched for the night.” 

The glare intensified, the scowl deepened. “You’re kidding. Nice one. C’mon Sides.”

Unknown to either twin the engineer had called the medic the moment that Prowl had hit the on button. He shook his helm again and repeated his earlier threat, making Sunstreaker hesitate. Did he sacrifice his paints, or give in to what was, undoubtedly, some kind of secret voyeur kink the medic had? “Jack, Sides and I need to merge soon. It’s not comfortable doing that in the med bay, plus everyone can see us there. I don’t like it. C’mon, let us just go to our quarters. We’ll be fine.”

“You two will be doing no such thing.” Ratchet stated entering the medbay with his normal flourish of a sour face and dour air. Sunstreaker tensed up. Damn, he’d been close to convincing Wheeljack too, he knew it. 

“Ratchet you know that--”

“You aren’t doing any spark merging until I’m sure that Wheeljack’s machine didn’t cause any kind of damage to your sparks.” His expression twisted into something sad, and Sunstreaker had to look away when he continued. It was almost like he hadn’t wanted to send the twins to get their memories wiped, like he would have rathered then not change- but no one had any choice lest the peace be destroyed. “Don’t make me have to strap you both down. Keeping Megatron from locking you two up in separate cells is hard enough without you fighting me.”

No, that wasn’t okay, not in the slightest. Sunstreaker reached over and squeezed Sideswipe’s servo. He knew what could happen to them if they didn’t merge when their sparks demanded it, and he’d thought that Ratchet knew as well. “If anything happens to either of us,” he rumbled, “I’m going to haunt your medbay until you go offline. Understand?”

Ratchet snorted. “I still have the regulators we used last time you were too injured to merge. You fools will be fine.” He looked over at Wheeljack. “Alright, you mad scientist, help me get these hellions to medbay. You can come fiddle with your toy when they’re safe and sound in my care.”

Sunstreaker snorted. “More like cowering for your mercy, but okay.” 

Sideswipe leaned against his twin with a snort. Grinning wickedly and wagging his optic ridges. Cowering on his knees, begging for mercy and to make it up to the medic~ Mhh hmm~ Of course his lewd thoughts transmitted to his twin along with his weariness.

Sunstreaker made a choked noise, optics going bright. The sad thing was that he could imagine that very scene, with either or both of them on their knees for Ratchet, and he gave a little shudder. _/You’re just mean. I’m gonna get you for that when ol’ Hatchet lets us out, you just wait, little brother./_

“Are you glitching now?” Ratchet asked, managing to sound at least a little concerned. He caught Sunstreaker’s helm and held him still frowning, and Sunstreaker made an irritated noise. 

“I’m fine, Ratch, honest, lemme go!”

_/I really hope you do~ I’d love to be kneeling and begging for your mercy as you shove your spike down my intakes~/_ He purred over the bond with his twin. Sending an image of it to his twin, the mirror in the image obvious and letting his twin know it was a still from a previous encounter of theirs.

Sunstreaker stalled briefly, and Ratchet huffed. “Right, straight to medbay with you.” He hauled Sunstreaker to his pedes and started leading him away, leaving Wheeljack to help Sideswipe. 

_/You’re getting me in trouble, Sides!/_ Though of course, his complaints weren’t serious. He followed along in Ratchet’s lead, and hummed. _/When all this is over though, we really should see if we can get a third for a bit, if we remember. It’s been a while since we shook things up, yeah?/_

_/Yeah, but not Blue again. He didn’t seem to like my mouth./_ He liked Bluestreak, a lot, but some of his kinks he liked better. Like his love of sucking spike which blue had flinched away from. And he could understand not liking something because he himself hated using his spike but when Blue had made an awkward sound as he was about to take his twin’s spike into his mouth- that was nearly a deal breaker. But with a promise of bows and a hard- hard- frag later; Sideswipe sucked up his dislike of not being able to do what he’d wanted and quickly, almost angrily, spiked Blue. Then his twin spiked him and they quickly brought the praxian to over load and faked their own- for the most part. Sideswipe did spew transfluids but only because Sunny knew where the cache was would release it- the medical cache that is- and Blue had fallen into recharge. After that the twins had left and-

“Lets go Sides, before Ratch takes his anger out on my poor machine.”

Sunstreaker and Ratchet were already almost to the medbay, and Sunny sent back encouragement across the bond, while Ratchet called, “Wheeljack, if that red aft isn’t in my medbay in one minute, yours is gonna be!”

_/Ratchet’s feisty today. Anyway, not Blue. Blue’s a prude. I was thinking maybe Bumblebee or Jazz if we can coax them into it? They’re tiny but I heard SpecOps have some… unique kinks we could explore./_

_/Not Bee, last time I heard he was trying to spike the organic- or maybe the organic was playing with his spike? Either way- frag no. He’s ruined. Jazz- you think He’ll frag a bot other than Prowl if it wasn’t a mission? Might be easier to just ask Hound- Blaster! Heard he was into a lot of things. Big bot, big spike~?/_ He was just imagining sucking that spike as his twin fragged him. _/Lets talk to Blaster~/_ He sent over the wave of lust he’d begun really feeling.

Cooling fans kicked on, and Ratchet paused in pushing Sunstreaker to the berth to glare at him. “Whatever you two are doing, stop. I can’t get a read on you if you’re acting like a couple of sex-crazed younglings already.”

Sunstreaker stuck out his glossa and grinned, laying back on the berth. “Can we push mine and Sides’ together? I know you said no merging, but I want him close to me anyway.”

Ratchet shook his helm. “You twins and you’re demands. Fine, but only this once, and if you tell anyone I’ll strip your pretty finish all off before welding you and him together, got it?” Sunstreaker stared up at him in horror for a minute, and nodded quietly, not sure he wanted to say anything and risk the medic’s ire.

It was a relief when Sideswipe was brought in, and Ratchet and Wheeljack got him on another berth before pushing them together. Sunstreaker shifted closer and took Sideswipe’s servo in his own. _/When he goes to his office for his midnight nap, we’ll snuggle up okay? I won’t let His Royal Crankiness keep me off my favorite pillow all night./_

Sideswipe squeezed his brother’s servo. He didn’t like it, but he understood. Ratchet was worried about them, so they’d indulge him while he was awake, at least. _/Even if I fall into recharge first? I feel really tired, Sun.../_

_/Even if you fall asleep first Little Brother./_ Sunstreaker promised. If Sideswipe offlined to recharge he'd stay awake alone until Ratchet went to his office, just so they could cuddle. It was something that they'd always done. Sunstreaker would protectively hold his twin and make sure no monsters got them when they were younger. Now that the monster was given a horrible form he didn't dare recharge without being connected somehow. 

The “monster” for the majority of their lives has had a form that they could battle against. It started with starvation, and Sunstreaker battled it by learning to steal, learning what needed stealing and how to best do it without getting caught. Some days, they competed against other mechs, mechs so low on energy they were running on fumes. They were the worst. The mechs who were the most desperate were always the hardest to fight off.

Then it was the pits, where they won every battle even if it was just barely. They earned money and fuel, and Sunstreaker protected his brother from the less savory parts of gladiator life. Here was where they first learned of Megatron, and Sunstreaker admired the mech for his strength. He never stopped admiring him, not really, even when the war began and they were on opposite sides.

Now, though, the monster was their own allies. The last monster was the worst, was the hardest to face. It was a monster made of betrayal that was breaking them apart, and they couldn't fight that monster. They’d run out of time, of strength, and they couldn’t win anymore. 

"Hmm... your sparks are a little younger than they were, but not much. I'm going to set things up so you’re both observed closely over the night cycle." Ratchet speaking pulled the twins our of their loop of thoughts, and they glanced at each other, seeing the nervousness in each other’s optics. Quickly, Ratchet hooked them up to machines that would monitor their spark pulse and register their spark ages every klik, and alert him to any drastic changes. 

He was just programming the alarm when several bots rushed in, and he felt his spark almost stop. Ironhide was being dragged in between two mechs, and all the medic could think was that someone broke the treaty. Before he could really start to panic though, one of the bots explained while they heaved Ironhide onto an empty berth. “A mine shaft collapsed while a bunch of us were working. Ironhide got crushed by the cave in while he was saving those of us who couldn’t make it on our own or got stuck.” He rolled his shoulders when he was free of his burden. “I’m gonna go back and help who’s left, we’ll keep you updated.” 

Ratchet nodded and got to work. The twins were all set up, and they knew better than to cause trouble while he was working on other patients. So he let them be while he arrange Ironhide’s frame more comfortably, then injected a sedative into his fuel lines. The poor mech was probably in enough pain as it was without having to be alert through Ratchet reassembling him, after all. 

It took him several hours of work, silent except for the steady beat of his three patients’ spark monitors. Every few klicks was the soft beep of the spark age being recorded. The twins seemed to be fine, so he focused on Ironhide. “Stupid glitch,” he muttered, though it was fond. He and Ironhide had been best friends for a long time after all, and Ironhide was always getting himself nearly killed. This time, as with all others, Ratchet patched him up good as new, though it was well into the night cycle when he finished.

Tired after dealing with the weapons specialist, Ratchet glanced at the twins. They were cuddled close together, both offline and recharging soundly. He had long forgotten that he hadn’t set any alarms, so content that they were fine and no machines going wild to tell him otherwise, he figured it was safe enough to leave them as they were. He needed his rest too, after all, and he left to his office, where his spare berth was waiting to welcome him to recharge. He didn't look at the machine he’d actually gotten set up all the way: the one that was recording their age every klik, a silent sentry over their sparks. 

Four hundred seventy-eight million, nine hundred fifteen vorns. 

Sideswipe roused himself from recharge much later, moaning in pain. It hurt - everything hurt, and ached and - 

"Sunny," he whimpered, clutching at his twin, who was slowly waking up as well. If his groans were anything to go by, he was in pain as well. There were no alarms going off, not in their HUDs and not in the medbay either, even though they were sure that some should be. No mech could be in so much pain and not have injury alerts lighting up their optics. 

Sideswipe tried to look around, to figure out where they were, and he spied the screen with their vitals on it. Pain sensors were pushed to their limits, and circuits were frying. Their age was displayed on a screen too, the digits blurry, but he swore it was at two hundred million and the end numbers were flickering too fast to be caught. 

That didn’t seem right...

"Sideswipe," Sunstreaker groaned, interrupting Sideswipes thoughts. Sides knew that angry tone, the husky deep one that Sunny used when cursing out Seekers and when he was so close to overload, almost forcing his twin to gag as he pushed deeper. Seekers - there were so many of them. Too many of them killing the bots. It was the middle of war…

Was that why they were in the Medbay?

"Think I fell on my helm when that purple slagger scraped me off on the cliff."

"Purple? Violet Sideswipe." He corrected his younger twin. 

"What's violet?"

"You will be if you don't stop making no sense."

Sideswipe looked up at his twin cuddling him. "You look bulky." His twin was never that thick. Even now in the pits he wasn't supposed to be so large. 

"Sides. We just got our upgrade. 'Course I look bulky to you now."

"Upgrades? Sunny they so far 'way still." He said softly and Sunstreaker hummed at him. His twin was right! Upgrades were in forever from now! Sideswipe began clicking and chirring and Sunny nodded. They needed to rest or their creators would hit them again!

Beep!

One vorn.


	3. Broken Promises and Bonds

Chapter Three: 

When Ratchet came online, he had a nagging sense that something was off. It felt like it had been far too longs since the last time Wheeljack had blown himself up - which would then lead to the engineer soon blowing himself up - or Sideswipe had changed something in his medbay. Last time, everything had been moved a quarter of a foot to the left and he couldn’t figure it out for a vorn.

Reviewing his memory files from last orn, he realized with horror what was wrong.

His frame was too old for the treatment it got then, but he was too frantic to care. How could he have forgotten when that was the whole point of them being in his care in the first place? He shoved himself up out of his berth, staggering only slightly before he rushed into the main room of the bay, nearly skidding to a halt beside the twins’ doubled berth. 

He looked over their vitals first, naturally, and his fuel lines seemed to run cold. Their sparks were struggling, as if they were putting out more power than they could rightly handle. His gaze slid over the screens to the monitor that was marking their ages, and the words he uttered then, no mech would ever dare repeat.

There was no way they were going to survive if he didn’t act quickly.

::Medic Ratchet to Optimus and Megatron. I need you _both_ in the medbay _now_.:: He wasn’t above pulling rank on the two sort-of leaders now, and he certainly wasn’t afraid of Megatron like Hook seemed to be. 

He was already flipping switches and using medical overrides to open the twins’ frames up. He needed to start the process of freeing spark from frame before the two burned themselves out. Already, he could see the little ones flickering, struggling to keep going.

Elbow deep in the warrior frames, Ratchet didn’t so much as flinch when Megatron stormed in, a harried-looking Optimus following after him. “You do not _order_ me, medic-”

“Shut up and listen,” Ratchet snapped, annoyed. He didn’t have time for Megatron’s pride right now. “Wheeljack’s machine works, but something went wrong. The twins are too young and their sparks can’t power their frames anymore. I don’t have any sparkling frames, none of us were expecting to deal with this so soon.”

Megatron had a displeased expression, as though he couldn’t believe that Ratchet had disturbed him for _this_. Optimus, at least, looked worried. “Ratchet, old friend, what are you saying?” Optimus asked running a servo down his tired face plates. 

“I’m saying,” Ratchet snapped as he lifted a spark that was only a fraction the size of a normal mechs, “that we now have sparklings.” Sideswipe’s frame grayed, and the spark was moved to an incubation chamber quickly. Then Ratchet nearly tore his way through Sunstreaker’s heavier modifications to get the spark free, just barely managing it in time, and he put it into the same case as the flickering spark that was Sideswipe.

Together the sparks merged and pulsed brightly, thriving and gaining strength quickly before breaking apart and floating around. They bumped against the sides of the incubator, exploring what they would never understand.

“So we have sparklings.” Megatron shrugged. “Build them a couple frames and pass them off on a bonded pair. There was no reason to demand our presence.”

Ratchet glared at him, before adjusting the settings on the incubator and turning away. “I’m going to ignore your first comment in light of the fact that education for the lower classes was _severely_ lacking pre-war. As for ‘passing them off’, that’s exactly why I called you two. You’re the unofficial leaders of Cybertron now, and part of that is making decisions about who gets sparklings, and when.”

Optimus looked horrified at that, and Ratchet nodded. “I know, I know, it goes against your ideals of freedom. But think about it, Optimus, until we can rebuild Cybertron to the point that we don’t need to import energon from Earth anymore, we simply can’t allow the population to grow much more.” He shook his helm. “It’s a balancing act. But the two of you need to decide who’s going to take in the twins - and they have to take both twins, at this age, separating them would kill them.”

“So let them-”

“Megatron, if you finish that sentence or allow it to happen, I will personally demolish the peace treaty, do you understand me?”

Megatron scowled, not pleased in the slightest by the medic’s threat, but knowing better than to think it was a bluff, by any means. He crossed his arms and looked over at Optimus. “If we must. I want a Decepticon to raise them, Optimus.”

“A Decepticon?” Optimus sounded scandalized. “Raise an Autobot? They’re more likely to kill them from sheer neglect!”

Ever expressive, Megatron simply raised an optic ridge, and Optimus looked away, flustered. He hadn’t meant it in a bad way, really… okay that was a lie. He honestly didn’t believe any of the Decepticons would make good parents, for the simple reason that none of them seemed remotely paternal. Well, none but… 

He looked back at Megatron. “You’re thinking Soundwave, then?” he asked. That decision, he supposed he could support. He’d seen Soundwave with the cassettes, and it was the closest thing to a family unit there was. Blaster, of course, had his own little family, but he seemed to be struggling with them lately, and Optimus couldn’t put more little ones in his care without feeling guilty.

Megatron nodded. “He’s the best choice, naturally. His frame is large enough, and he’s capable of hosting sparks, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Large enough?” Optimus questioned. Ratchet sighed. Education for Primes had been pretty lacking too, now that he thought about it. Especially concerning what they themselves had an inability to do. Bonding and sparking being close to this subject and on it.

“A carrier has to be large enough to host additional sparks without smothering them. Larger carriers are more suited to hosting more sparks, but even in a large carrier, having more than one at a time is rare. The larger carrier frames usually found work in sparkling care centers, though.” Ratchet crouched down, more focused on the tiny sparks now than on the leaders. “To be honest, most of the mechs that survived the war are large enough to host two additional sparks, aside from the minibots of course. But a few have better, eh, temperaments for it.” He wasn’t going to even mention that the majority of them would be ill suited though, due to stress, trauma, and processor damage from suffering in this chaotic hell.

Optimus nodded, curiosity sated for now. “Still though, a Decepticon? I don’t think the twins would be happy about that.”

“Optimus, the twins no longer have any memories, or prejudices, from the war.” Megatron’s optics dimmed in his annoyance. “If you refuse, the treaty is void.”

“Now wait just a minut--”

“Optimus,” Ratchet cut in smoothly. “If we never take a chance and trust them, this peace won’t last. We all have to make compromises, right?”

The two mechs ignored Ratchet, ready to bicker, bitch, and moan, until Starscream burst into the room. His normal tri colors had become a rainbow of others. He was fuming and ready to strangle the two cassettes he held onto. Frenzy and Eject, in contrast, were grinning like mad. “Megatron!” He screeched in that tone that Megatron was much too familiar with, but made Optimus and Ratchet nearly flinch. “If you don’t do something about these Cassette brats, your precious deployer will be short some!”

Megatron scowled at Starscream. Liking the interruption from his Second in Command less than the current topic- and then, he smiled, and it was one of those smiles that promised a brilliant, but not necessarily ‘good for everyone’, plan. “Starscream, your trinemate Thundersucker, how big is he?” Starscream hesitated, confused and slightly annoyed by the mangling of his trinemate’s designation, and Megatron turned, dismissing him in a way. “Soundwave can’t take them anymore, he’s going to need to focus on disciplining those he already has, Starscream will take them.” His second needed to learn a lesson and if Starscream killed the twins then he’d happily kill the seeker.

Optimus blanched. “What- now wait a minute, Megatron, you can’t be serious. Starscream? I’ll give you that I should give your Decepticons a chance, but he spent more time trying to kill you during the war than any of the Autobots have! You can’t seriously want to trust him with a couple of _sparklings_. Not to mention he spent more time cursing and trying to kill them than he did you.”

Now Starscream was really confused. He’d never tried to kill sparklings, at least not directly. Sure, he’d caused a few sparklings’ deaths - that was unavoidable in situations like the strike on Praxus after all - but he’d never specifically targeted them. Of course, that wasn’t the only thing he was concerned about. “What sparklings?” he demanded. No one had mentioned sparklings in any of the command meetings so far, and he’d been under the impression that it was decided there wouldn’t _be_ sparklings for a long while yet. Which had been a relief, really, because he knew exactly what would happen if he or any of the other Seekers were directly presented with a sparkling.

“These sparklings,” Ratchet answered simply, holding up a servo to stop Optimus from protesting as he stepped aside, allowing Starscream to see the incubator. Ratchet only knew stories about the Seekers’ programming regarding sparklings, but he watched Starscream closely, and he was sure he was reading the Air Commander right. Starscream’s optics went bright, and he dropped both Cassettes on their afts as he stepped forward. Ratchet moved away to make room when the Seeker gave a low hiss.

Ratchet, Optimus, and Megatron all watched with interest as Starscream crouched in front of the tank and dipped a servo in, claws gentle as he caressed the tiny little sparks. Megatron made a face when his SIC started cooing at them. “Really, Starscream? Must you act like such an Autobot?” Though if he was being honest, the sounds were… well, he had never expected Starscream’s voice to sound that soothing before.

“Without frames or processors, they can’t understand even basic clicks,” Starscream replied, tone clipped. “But all sparks, even young ones, recognize frequencies.” He smiled as the two sparks danced around his servo. “I have to ask - Skywarp and Thundercracker will have a fit if they think I’m a sparkling-napper now - but who are their creators? And why aren’t they taking care of them?”

“They don’t have creators,” Ratchet said simply. “Or if they do, we don’t know them.” Ratchet gave Optimus a small look. He was going to enjoy teasing Starscream before revealing the designations of the sparklings. “They’ve not had creators in a long while if I am right.” Starscream was careful in extracting one of them, holding it close and purring his engines. The other that was left behind went in a flurry almost like laughter at its twin. So even as just sparks the two shared something that no one would ever understand.

Starscream hummed in acknowledgment of the medic causing said medic to scowl, take all his fun away will the seeker! “Their designations are-”

**_Vop!_ **

“Primus slagged Seekers!” 

“Sup Screamy~?” Skywarp asked in a mocking way, completely ignoring Ratchet’s outburst. Innocence was there in his tone as well, but he knew what he was saying and doing. He wanted his trine leader fragged off. Thundercracker, dragged along by Skywarp, just grunted a sort of greeting to the other mechs in the room. He no longer cared enough to try and make Skywarp stop harassing Starscream. 

It had been a long time since the trine was ever really a trine. No longer did they care for each other, they never bonded or merged, and each wished there was a way to break apart. But to sever the trine bond other than death would kill all involved. Most times, the death of a trine member could be tolerated as long as the two left could lean on each other. But if their trine broke they’d not have each other, and they’d all offline.

Starscream, for his part, was doing a very impressive job of ignoring all annoyances, and Megatron wondered why he’d never seen this side of his Second during the war. Perhaps it was a part he only showed when sparklings were around. Picking up the second spark Starscream held the two close and then snarled at his trine. Too quick for any of the other ‘bots around to pick up on he clicked out a series of seeker cant codes and Thundercracker howled, fighting to keep his spark chamber closed. What was his leader doing?!

Canopy moved aside and opened his internals were on show for all others. Scars only the trine had ever known about were viewed and Thundercracker felt such betrayal that even though their mostly closed trine bonds it was sent out. Starscream cared not.

More fast clicks from him an Thundercrackers spark incubation chamber opened. Starscream set the two in then pulled away as it and his trine mates canopy snapped shut. “You- you slagger!” He seethed. 

“Get to work on their frames, Medic.” Starscream ordered and walked out with his trine following him. Thundercracker grabbed Skywarp and Starscream and the youngest seeker understood what Thundercracker wanted.

**_Vop!_ **

In their personal rooms, a single room with two small berths pushed together forcing the three to recharge either together or take turns, Thundercracker growled shoving Starscream hard against a wall. “You promised, all those vorns ago you swore you’d never use that on me!”

Starscream hit the wall hard, but millennia of taking Megatron’s rough treatment made the slight sting nothing in his processor. His optics flared and he shoved back, though it did him little good. “What’s one more broken promise,” he snapped, “in the wake of our history of lies and betrayals and let downs?” The life of a Decepticon was every mech for themselves, and even bonded mechs like the trines and gestalts would turn on each other in an instant to save their own afts. They kept each other alive, and that was the extent of loyalty under Megatron’s rule.

Thundercraker felt pain, it flashed past his optics then he punched Starscream hard across the face plates. He’d let himself hope- but it was too late. They were far too broken as a trine. Even Skywarp who was so young- he’d been a youngling at the start of the war. Fighting for a cause that let anyone in because it was their right to. Skywarps laughter was ringing out even now and in an astro second Thundercracker nailed him. “No. More.” He seethed. “From now on we will act like a trine again! I don’t give a pits frag if we aren’t one we will act like one!”

Starscream crumpled under the hit, sinking to the floor and staring up at Thundercracker. They’d had their disagreements, their scuffles, scraped armor and hurt pride. But that punch… Starscream shuddered and looked down at the floor instead. “It isn’t as though any of us know how to ‘act’ like a trine, though, is it?” He laughed, shaking his helm. “An anti-social scientist, a youngling, and an sympathizer. We’re not exactly compatible are we?”

“Tough,” Thundercracker ground out. He was tired of the games, the dancing around each other, the hostility. “So we didn’t choose each other like a traditional trine. It doesn’t matter because the bonds have _held_ , through everything, and we’re still here and the war is over. It’s time to start fixing things, and not just Cybertron.”

Skywarp snorted. “It’ll take Primus himself to fix Screamer,” he said, earning a growl from both trinemates.

“No, it’ll take my servo beating your helm in. We let you get away with too much Skywarp, it stops, _now_. His Designation is Starscream. Use it. When you begin to respect that, you will be allowed to call him Star.” Thundercracker’s threat was accompanied by another hit for Skywarp, and when he threatened to warp away, Starscream clicked at him. Using his power as trine leader, he issued cant commands to still the youngest member of their trine.

“From now on you will not warp away from either of us when we are having a serious talk. I am ordering you as your trine leader. During a talk like this you are not allowed to warp away and avoid it.” Thundercracker was right, after all. They may not have chosen it, but they were a trine, and if Starscream wanted their support, he needed to start acting like a real trine leader. “You need to begin acting like an adult. We’ve got two more lives to deal with now.”

Skywarp clicked and tilted his helm. Wings conveying his confusion. “Sky, Star put two sparks into my incubation chamber. I do not agree with how he went about it,” he sent the trine leader a glare, “but they are ours. My spark is bonding to them even now. They are going to be my sparklings.” He hesitated a moment, before adding,”They’ll be yours too, if we renew our trine bonds.” All of them were tense, afraid of that thought alone. 

It had been so long since the last time that they merged, let alone merged to bond, and despite their talk of fixing things, it was a line none of them were sure they were ready to cross just yet.

“I want to,” Starscream said, quiet. It surprised Thundercracker and Skywarp. They’d believed he’d be the last to go for renewing the bonds, for any reason. He shrugged. “I want the bitlets to be mine too. Besides… It’s not like there’s any danger of the war hurting one of us and destroying the other too anymore, so why not try it? See what we could have been if we’d tried sooner?”

Thundercracker scuffed. They would never have gotten to this point willingly. But their trine leader was forcing them to it. “In time, maybe Star. It will take a while for me to get used to the idea of you being in my processor again.”

Starscream gave a wry smile, and finally pushed himself back to his pedes. “I only said I wanted to,” he said simply. “Never gave an order. Take care of the sparklets, I’m going to go finish my conversation with the medic.” After all, he still had yet to find out where they came from, and he was curious.

“But we--”

Starscream shook his head. “Later Skywarp. We’ll have a big long sit and discuss what we all want, and we’ll all listen to each other like a proper trine should. But I need the rest of the information on the sparklings, so we don’t get hit with any surprises.” He didn’t say the words ‘I promise’, he didn’t dare. Not after breaking one of the most important promises he made to Thundercracker just minutes ago.


	4. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey~ Look! We didn't die :D Not physically at least. Our asses are being handed to us by college~
> 
> We want to thank everyone for the wonderful review. It was because of the review We continued with this story~ So now that we made you wait a month or so for an update I'll let you get to it.

Chapter Four: Family

Their talk didn’t happen, not that the second and third of the trine blamed Starscream, the way one thing happened right after another. One of which prevented him from getting his answers out of Ratchet - apparently they’d finally dug out the remaining mechs from the collapsed mine. Another event followed this discovery, which left Starscream quite grumpy and in pain with a dislocated wing. He swore up and down for orns about how he would offline Wheeljack for the explosion that temporarily robbed him of his flight.

He hadn’t been this irate since his last ‘punishment’ from Megatron before the treaty was signed, and he swore at the Autobots around every corner, because _something_ had spooked them all and they were running around like helmless cockatrices. He had no idea what could have gotten them all so spooked in the first place, and his only Primus sent gift that deca-cycle was that those pit spawned twins hadn’t shown up. Twins... that made Starscream, laying face down on the berth barely staying out of recharge, think of the two that Thundercracker was carrying.

He hoped that they were seekers and that’s why he’d been picked. Unless they were grounders, and Megatron had picked him hoping to torture him. Only the worst of seeker kin would ever abandon their sparklings, so Starscream would have to go against his core programming, or subject himself to the limits of raising groundlings. Grounders were so often orphaned, and no matter what his instructors had taught him when he was a youngling, Starscream still didn’t understand why. How could a creator abandon their creation? Seekers rarely abandoned their own, no matter what the creations might turn out to be. It was only the truly glitched that couldn’t access their caretaker programming. The once-leader of Vos remembered a time that he’d been in training, learning the finer details of how to rule, and there were whispers of a carrier abusing her mate and sparklings. 

They’d been far too late to save them. Only the husk of her mate was found, and worse, only dust that they’d believed were her twin creations. Rust infection was the cause of death, clear even before the initial investigation was processed. The medic said that the mate and sparklings died from being abused and neglected. He died first, too damaged to heal on his own and too weak to get to a medic without help. The carrier didn’t seem to care he was dead, and with their sire gone, the sparklings were neglected and abused even more, which had caused the rust infection. When the carrier finally disappeared altogether, the abandonment had them alone and without help, eventually leading to rusting and offlining. 

Starscream had pushed so hard for further investigation, demanding that they needed to find this femme, and bring her to justice, show Vos that this wouldn’t be tolerated. However, corruption had begun to spread in Vos already, and he couldn’t get past it on his own just yet. When he did, it was far too late and the femme had filtered to the back of his processor. He had no clue as to her designation anymore, nor the designations of her sparklings or mate. 

“Star,” Thundercracker said, speaking softly so as to not startle his trine mate while rousing him from thoughts that had set his wings quivering.

Starscream looked up, and offered something like a smile to his second. “TC,” he said, just as softly and making Thundercracker hesitate. Starscream hadn’t called him that in more vorns than he could recall. “How are they?” He slumped. Of course, Starscream only cared about the sparklings.

“Irritated. They want out. They’re fighting me, Star, trying to make my frame let them free. Neither understand that they have no frames to survive in. Both of them remember being alive and in frames. They want their Sire.”

Starscream frowned, a little thrown by the words. “Their Sire?” They hadn’t restored the trine bonds yet. As far as the sparklings should be aware, there was no Sire, because there was no Sire bond. 

“Yeah, they know we aren’t their coding creators, but they accept me as their carrier. I don’t know what else they know, but they do know that.” He gave a small shrug. “Do you know how much longer it will be until Wheeljack and Hook finish their frames?” Starscream groaned. No he didn’t and he didn’t want to move to find out.

When Thundercracker sat on him, he squawked out curses, “What the Pit are you doing Thundercracker?” He yowled, but Thundercracker hushed him as he ground his hips over the other’s interface panels. “No!” He squealed more and dislodged Thundercracker to get away. “You want a frag buddy you find Skywarp.” He nearly ran from the room, not explaining why he was so against interface when Thundercracker remembered long ago how enthusiastic he’d been about it.

Thundercracker curled his digits against the berth, thoughts swimming. He’d never known Starscream to reject a good frag, and he knew that Starscream had him in that category, or at least he did before their team, their trine, fell apart. What could have changed that he never noticed, through his years of apathy towards his leader?

He slid off the berth and left the room cautiously, hoping Starscream hadn’t left their living space altogether. _Apartment_ , he reminded himself. They were calling them apartments now. He looked around, concerned. “Star?” he tried. “You didn’t leave did you?”

He had left though. Deciding to go find Ratchet and his gaggle of mechs and ask about the frames. Desperately needing a distracti- _**Vop!**_ Pits, no! Not that distraction! Not right now!

“Hey there Scre-e…. Scree. Sup~?” Skywarp caught himself and looked around incase the threat of TC was around. Luckily the larger trine mate was not here. 

“Drop that pathetic nickname and the humanslang,” He growled and kept walking, hoping futilely that if he ignored it, it wouldn’t exist. That was a bad way to consider one’s trine while attempting to reconcile, but Starscream wasn’t perfect no matter what he claimed.

Skywarp’s wings twitched a little, as if they were going to droop in disappointment, but he had checked himself like with the name and hid his unhappiness. “We’re supposed to be trying to get along,” he grumbled. “You said. What are you in such a hurry for anyway?”

Starscream let out an annoyed sigh. Of course Skywarp wouldn’t just go away when Starscream expressed his irritation - the Decepticon prankster enjoyed conflict a little too much, in his opinion. “I’m going to check on the progress for the sparkling frames so that Thundercracker doesn’t have to carry them around any longer than necessary.”

Skywarp chirped, “oh~ Sounds like fun. Can’t wait to see them, come on let’s go!” He grabbed Starscream and, before the trine leader could shriek, as he surely was about to, _**Vop!**_

 _ **Vop!**_ “Skywarp!” Yup there was the shriek. 

“We're here~” Skywarp sang.

Starscream jerked away and immediately curled his arm around something, anything, that was bolted down. “You know I hate it when you do that!” he snapped, wings trembling. It was hard to tell if it was from anger or fear though - you really never knew with Starscream.

Slowly, he looked around, taking in the new location and waiting for his tanks to catch up to him. “Ratchet?” he rasped, curiously. The medic should be around here somewhere, he was sure. “Skywarp, go see if he’s in his office - don’t wake him up if he’s recharging or I’ll let him reassemble you into a toaster.”

Skywarp made a face at that. He didn’t particularly want to be a toaster - Blaster’s brother had that under control as is - and he was a little offended that Starscream would just let it happen (more than that, he was pretty sure that Thundercracker would have a fit if he did). But he supposed it was just Starscream’s pay back for warping without warning.

Skywarp barged loudly into the office, despite the warning, then with a shriek he warped away. Wheeljack and Ratchet cursed loudly before the door closed again. They were both busy with their personal time, which Skywarp had walked in on, and they weren’t keen on stopping just because of a little interruption.

Starscream, of course, got almost as bad of an optic-full as Warp had, and he hissed and turned away.

Everyone, interfacing everywhere, couldn’t he catch a break?

He left a note for Ratchet on one of the empty berth tables. It was brief, simply asking for an update on the sparkling frames at Ratchet’s… earliest convenience. 

Funnily enough, Hook walked in just then, cursing some schematics out. Barging in on the interfacing pair he told them, without shame or consideration for either, to simply “stop it”, because the frames were just about ready. It was time to do a trial test and then for the Sparks to be brought in. He turned right back around after making sure that they were going to follow him (there may have been a threat or two to certain parts of anatomy that shan’t be repeated), muttering under his breath about useless Autobots. It was a common complaint from him, really, and neither Ratchet nor Wheeljack took much offense after the first time. It turned out that Hook was something of a perfectionist, and he saw everyone else as useless, even when they were better than him.

It was probably a gestalt thing, Wheeljack had reasoned, and they left it at that.

“You finished building them already?” the engineer asked, curious. “I thought you said it would take another week at least.”

Hook shrugged. “I got the team on it, and things went much faster. They aren’t _terrible_ , when they follow directions. Anyway, like I said, it’s only a trial, they might not be ready yet at all.”

Starscream perked up and erased his note to the Medic. Having his answer now. “Starscream, have you three renewed your trine bonds or interfaced at least?” Ratchet asked in his doctor like tone. Starscream tensed and that was answer enough for Ratchet. “You need to do one of the two to make sure their sparks stay healthy. Skywarp might be doing it but it would be best if you did too.”

Wings drooped slightly. Starscream didn’t want to put the sparklets in any danger, but it wasn’t fair that he’d have to choose between them and his own comfort. Scuffing his pede on the floor, he asked softly, “What’ll happen to them if we don’t?” It was meant to encompass both reforging the bonds and interfacing, and he hoped that Ratchet understood.

“Nothing, just the weaker their sparks the harder the transfer will be. Someone has to interface or bond with Thundercracker. Anyone.”

Starscream sighed. Well he couldn’t just let Thundercracker bond outside the trine, at least not until their bonds were reforged and strong again. It was too risky. Sharing Thundercracker’s frame though… as long as Skywarp hadn’t gotten possessive at least…

“I’ll talk to him about it,” he said finally. He wouldn’t bring up bonding unless he had to, they’d already heard his thoughts on it and he didn’t want to come off as forcing it or manipulating them. Sure, he had a history of that, but he was trying to do better by them, and starting off their new life by using trine commands on Thundercracker already had him in the red by a lot. “We’ll make sure they’re strong enough for the transfer, just focus on the frames.”

Ratchet nodded and made a shooing gesture. “Go back to your new home Starscream. Take care of your family.” Starscream was left in a stunned silence as Ratchet herded Wheeljack out after Hook to the constructicon’s work room. 

_Family._

Well wasn’t that an interesting new concept. He smiled, just slightly. Yeah, he liked the thought.

He left the medbay and headed back to the quarters he shared with his trine. They’d have to start searching for an apartment unit soon - or better, a full building for themselves and the twins. He was halfway back to his quarters when he realized that Ratchet still hadn’t told him who they were adopting. _Well, I suppose it isn’t really that important, is it? They won’t be the same as when we knew them, and if it’s someone I didn’t like, I can raise them to be however I like~._ He nodded to himself and tapped in the code for the door, walking in. “Thundercracker? Skywarp? You two home?”

“What did you do to him?” Thundercracker snarled menacingly. Before Starscream could react or think, Thundercracker barreled towards him. Bearing down on Starscream, he was more than ready to hit him and not hold back... but the twin sparks flared in fear. That fear made him stop, made him pay attention and realize what he was doing. He stiffened and watched in horror as the fear and cowardice that was normally reserved for Megatron overtook his trine leader. 

Starscream’s wings snapped down so tight it would be hard to grab one of them let alone move it. He sank down to cover his helm and make himself too small of a target to be worth attacking. He was expecting to be hit, Thundercracker realized. He was expecting to be… he swallowed. He wasn’t Megatron, would have only given Starscream a little smack, but he realized - too late now maybe - that they couldn’t do things like that. Not with their history.

“Stars?” he asked in a softer voice, noting that even Skywarp had stopped his cowering and freaking out to watch Starscream with something like fascination.

Minutes passed before Starscream could uncurl himself. Never had his trine mates seen a seeker get so small, besides seekerlets. Starscream snarled at them, defensive, daring them to ever mention what had happened. He was no coward, he was no weakling. But he’d endured more than either could imagine, being second to Megatron when he’d gone absolutely crazy. His reactions were justified, he knew it, even if he had to constantly remind himself. 

Family, frag that. It’d never happen! Not to them, not between them, never! His spark ached and yearned. It had been close - it had been so close and now it seemed like an eternity away. He should have known that the three of them couldn’t become what trine was meant to be, should have known it when Thundercracker and Skywarp didn’t want to reforge their trine bond right away. Starscream had never hated Thundercracker before. Millenia of war had passed, and here and there Starscream had resented Thundercracker’s actions, resented that Thundercracker at least hadn’t even noticed the abuse he endured under Megatron’s servos, hadn’t ever tried to offer him help or comfort. Even now, rattling under his plating, the hate was not as deep as some of his most liked allies. But Thundercracker wasn’t just an ally. Thundercracker was trine, and for his trine any hate was too deep. They could never, _never_ , be a family now, bitlets or no bitlets.

How dare Thundercracker take that away from him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You want to see something? How about you all mention it? :) No really this really helps with plotting. SO send in reviews with what you'd like to see. I.E. Megs attacking Stars again, or The Bots not trusting the trine. Etc.~


	5. Eggs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Orn- Cybertronian day  
> Cycle- The day and night  
> Joor- Hour  
> Sol- Month  
> Decaorn- Week  
> Klik- Moment  
> (Rough estimates of equivalence from the authors' personal likings. While an Joor is 6 hours to them it would feel like a single hour does to us.)

Chapter Five: Eggs

Orns had come and gone before he dared to speak with his trine again. The tension had risen and fell between the three of them, fluctuating depending on what flashbacks Starscream had suffered during his personal recharge, whether or not Skywarp was feeling playful, and how sore Thundercracker was from carrying. Now, the three of them were willingly in a room together for the first time since the Incident, and Starscream was currently the biggest flight risk, shifting on his pedes and flicking his wings in agitation.

“Thundercracker,” he greeted curtly. The greeting was returned in kind, Thundercracker’s tone short and sharp. The two of them circled one another, optics never leaving each other as the smallest of the trine looked up at the largest. They were sizing each other up, trying to decide if they could stand each other or handle spending time together today, or if this was only going to end in disaster.

Skywarp was silent while watching, hoping that they didn’t start to fight. He didn’t want them to fight anymore, it hurt in his spark and he knew, he _knew_ it had to hurt in theirs too. These few orns of Starscream ignoring them had reminded him of the vorns of ignorance during the war, and he couldn’t handle that, not again, not for forever. He needed the two mechs closest to him to be close to each other again. He liked having Starscream talk to him. He wanted him to begin to teach him again. 

Finally the duo stood down and with an inclination of Starscream’s helm he requested the rest of the trine follow. Skywarp relaxed, looking at Thundercracker hopefully, and the third member of their trine nodded his agreement. They could follow, for now, and he would do his best to be nice to Starscream.

They followed Starscream into the apartment’s spare room, a study Starscream had claimed for work the moment they had gotten this place, and where he had been staying since he stopped talking to them. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to leave altogether, and Thundercracker hadn’t tried to kick him out. Both trine mates were in awe as they looked around the room they hadn’t seen in orns. All of their leader’s things were packed away in boxes, piled up out of the way. In place of his belongings, any scrap the scavenger of a leader had managed to find had been used to make the most pristine of sparkling essentials. 

A crib like structure was on one side of the room, low to the ground and bolted to the wall with one side opened like a gate. It was clearly made this way so that sparklings can enter and exit through out the orn. If they were seekerlets, a safety net would be put over the top when they were old enough to fly, lest they fall and hurt themselves. 

Shelving had been made and placed along the adjacent wall, only three shelves high so that any climbing accidents would not end with serious injuries. They ran along the full length of the wall so that no storage space was lost due to their height.

Starscream’s desk was smoothed out so climbing would not be able to happen there. He had pushed it into the corner on the other side of the crib from the shelves so that he could work close to the younglings when they needed him. The chair had been adjusted so that it could easily bolt and unbolt for the trine if they wished to sit there and watch over their younglings, without worrying about it being sent rolling across the floor by playing bitlets.

Starscream had given up his ‘sanctuary from the stupidity of his trine’ - as he had often called it - for the sparklings, and that warmed a small part of Thundercracker’s spark when he realized it. 

“Help me move the boxes to the berth room.” Starscream’s words cut through his trine mate’s thoughts. He didn’t ask, but neither did it sound like an order. It was the closest he would get to asking for help. Surprise made Thundercracker and Skywarp both twitch their wings. The berth room?

“You... plan to recharge with us, Scree?” Skywarp inquired, as he grabbed the folded cot that had been Starscream’s berth since the orn he moved into here. He was trying to stay nonchalant, not wanting to get his hopes up, not wanting to risk the disappointment of being let down.

“Of course.” Starscream answered the question as though it was something obvious, and he moved on to something different so fast that Skywarp almost wondered if he’d imagined the distance that had separated them for so long. “Keep that easily accessible, we don’t know if we will be needed to recharge in here with the sparklings.” Skywarp nodded, canting his wings in acknowledgment of the order and slipping out to tuck the cot away into a storage closet across from the room. 

Thundercracker grabbed multiple boxes, unhindered by the sparks he was nurturing, which had been a blessing. Some carriers, he knew, weren’t permitted to do heavy lifting, lest they weaken the newsparks. But he was strong enough and without needing to worry about frames within him he could pick up a few light boxes. Starscream grabbed the last two boxes, and led the way to the berth room he’d abandoned orns ago. He acted as though moving to this room - knowing that he’d be staying, sleeping beside the two mechs that he’d been avoiding - was a completely natural event. He didn’t want to draw too much attention to the event - odd for him, but not necessarily impossible. 

The moment they set the boxes down, there was a ping to all three trine members’ comm. lines: all three were to the medical bay. The frames were ready.

The trine shared a hesitant look as Skywarp joined the other two in the berth room, then obeyed the medic that summoned them, making their way from their apartment, down to Ratchet’s domain. It was lucky, really, that they were still only in the process of rebuilding Cybertron. Who knew how far away the Seekers would be from Ratchet’s med center in the future, from one of the only medics they truly trusted to not frag them up or hurt them worse, no matter how they behaved? Just look at those slagged hellion twins. They were slaggers that no one liked, but Ratchet still kept them in a single piece. Although… they were currently _missing_ from the trines immediate surroundings. Thank Primus for small miracles~.

They were welcomed into the medical bay, and separated as Ratchet told Starscream and Skywarp to stay back. Thundercracker was ushered onto a berth, the medic barking orders at his assistants. He wasn’t particularly pleased with the mech-handling, but he was the most patient of his trine, and he tolerated it well enough. 

“Thundercracker, I need to connect with you over hardline,” Ratchet said simply. He was watching warily, however. It wasn’t his first time connecting to Decepticons, but it hadn’t happened yet outside of excruciating pain yet, and he wasn’t entirely sure that a Seeker would trust a grounder in his systems. Thundercracker simply looked back at him, and tipped his wings. 

“Why?” The question was more for curiosities sake than sounding accusing. Like the glare that Starscream was shooting the medic.

“I need to use a medical override to open your plating so we can place the frames in your gestation chamber. Since you weren’t sparked the traditional way and the frames were built by us rather than your own frame, we have to get them inside you so that the sparks can move to the frames before the egg shells begin forming.”

“Uh… Ratchet?” Skywarp moved forward just enough to catch the medics attention even with saying his designation. “I- I was sparked not long before the war, how- how does hatching and eggs happen?”

Both of the elder seekers looked at their third. Quickly talking with their wings the duo realized they had never told their third about nesting. Ratchet must have realized the same thing. He knew that until the ban was lifted sparking couldn’t happen. If there was no possibility of carrying why bother ever having an education on it?

Heaving a sigh the medic nodded. “Your elders,” He glared at the two of the trine that actually flinched from him- though Starscream would deny it- and then looked to Skywarp, “should have taught you long before you ever interfaced. Seekerlings are of the smallest sparklings because you nest and lay eggs. Normally, however, seekerlings are very quick to grow. Some stay smaller and struggle to grow,” optics flicked towards the smallest and slimmest Seeker that Ratchet had ever known, “and others hit a spurt that makes them over sized,” a glance was sent to Thundercracker. Skywarp listened closely and paid rapt attention, fascinated by the new information that he’d never had a clue about before.

“That’s why the twins’ frames are extremely small,” Ratchet continued with his explanation. “They need to be introduced to Thundercracker’s systems now, so that they have time to integrate and so that Thundercracker’s systems can accept and adapt to their presence. Their sparks are more than ready, and will drop almost immediately into the frames where the transfluids will begin to harden around their frames. That makes the shells that protect them, and when the shells are of the right density and the frames in them are ready, Thundercracker will lay them in your nest. They will stay in the eggs as long as needed, which depends on how willing they are to come out. If they aren’t ready, aren’t loved enough, or are scared the hatching will take longer, but I believe these two are likely to hatch fairly soon after laying.”

The medic paused for a long moment. He was watching the trine, gauging their reactions to everything he said, waiting to see if Starscream or Thundercracker wanted to pipe up to educate their youngest trine mate. When neither of them seemed like they were going to, Ratchet hummed and continued. “The information I have for the rest isn’t as solid, unfortunately. Once the eggs have been laid, most Seekers react by chasing off anyone who isn’t part of the family unit, including the grounders and medics interested in documenting the details. I doubt that you three will be much different in that, so no one but you will be able to see them, and there will always be one of you left at your nest to guard it. Seekers are greatly protective of their eggs, because they were once considered a great delicacy.” Skywarp’s expression twisted into one of horror, and Starscream and Thundercracker, while less surprised, were just as disturbed. Ratchet nodded, tone and expression grave. “It was disgusting, yes, but that was long, long ago.”

He let the trine absorb the information, not wanting to rush them through anything or stress out Thundercracker without good reason. He waited until their wings all settled into an angle he had learned to recognize as neutral, before smiling. “With how far along these frames have been built it’ll be about three or four orns until Thundercracker will lay them. His reports of them wanting out will likely mean they will hatch within a few orns after that. In that time, since I likely won’t be permitted in the nest, I’ll need all three of you to pay close attention to the little ones and report to me regularly about how their health seems.”

Thundercracker finally nodded and settled himself back on the berth, hardline ports sliding open, allowing Ratchet to connect. He dropped his firewalls to accept the medical commands and overrides without giving too much trouble, knowing that this needed to be done, even if it was a disconcerting feeling. His abdominal plating shifted and parted, opening up to expose his gestation chamber. Ratchet stepped aside slightly for his assistants to carefully place the new, tiny protoforms inside, and another signal from Ratchet’s hardline had the plating closing up once more.

The transfluids in Thundercracker’s tank, collected and stored by carrier protocols from interfacing, was sticky on the medics’ servos. The fluids covered the frames quickly and Ratchet was fast to close the open metals. With everything in place and settled for the integration, Ratchet shooed Skywarp and Starscream out of the room, with strict orders not to disturb Thundercracker while his frame and systems went to work preparing the eggs.

Outside in the hallway, a tense silence fell over the two Seekers. Starscream didn’t have quite as many problems with Skywarp as he had with Thundercracker, since Skywarp wasn’t large enough to make him feel as threatened. Still, however, there was a certain pressure looming over Starscream’s helm whenever he spent time with Skywarp. Pressure to make an effort with the trine, pressure to mend their bonds and let them into his spark, his processors, once more. 

Skywarp didn’t want to cause trouble for Starscream. He wanted them to be family like they were supposed to, yes, and he didn’t understand what was _wrong_ with Starscream, why he didn’t like them anymore. But he didn’t want to make him angry.

Except… well...

“Scree, why didn’t you two tell me about nesting?”

Starscream flinched. He really wanted Thundercracker to be there for that discussion. “Scree?” he finally asked his trine mate, trying to use a different rout to make his trine mate forget what he was aiming for. He saw the slight pain on Skywarp’s face and knew that their youngest knew what he was doing. “I want to talk about nesting when TeeCee is awake to make sure that I don’t become too pithy with you.” The pain left to show awe, understanding, and lust. Not lust for frame, but lust for the prospect of the future.

“Uh… yeah.” Skywarp suddenly felt uncharacteristically shy, as if he wasn’t sure what to do or how to act for the moment. “Well… I used to call you Screamer, before TC told me to stop because it was bad. So… Figured I could call you Scree instead.” He shrugged, optics on the floor as he tried not to squirm under his leader’s gaze.

Starscream just watched him, focused intently. He was thinking, calculating what his trinemate could mean by that, and trying to determine if it was honest, sincere… or if Skywarp was just making fun of him as he always had. Taking a leap of faith that made his tanks churn, he pulled Skywarp to look at him and kissed him. It was only a quick and soft peck, chaste and with no indication of wanting anything more. But all the same, it was the most intimate thing he had shared with anyone willingly in decavorns.

Skywarp, caught off guard, stiffened for a long moment, unsure what to do or if he was allowed to return the kiss. He relaxed soon enough to press into it, just as lightly. 

Pulling back, just a few inches for now, Starscream hummed. It wasn’t bad, and he didn’t feel sick or scared. He wasn’t sure, really, how he did feel, but he decided that it wasn’t bad, and he allowed the smallest smile to Skywarp to show him that it was okay, and he’d done well. “I don’t mind it, Warp, as long as you aren’t making fun of me again.” Skywarp shook his helm. He wouldn’t dare, not now, not when things were so up in the air, so new, with so much potential. Starscream nodded, pulled back the rest of the way. “How about we go get some fuel together while that glitched medic curses our trine mate out?” Starscream was making an attempt and Skywarp grinned and nodded. It was more than he’d dared to hope for, after Starscream had already declared that he would share their berth from now on. This was just icing on the energon cake.

They were about to leave when BandAid - that was his designation, right? - came over and requested that they wait.

They didn’t have to wait for very long, but Skywarp was getting antsy and Starscream couldn’t hide the nervous twitching of his wings. Had something happened in the short time they’d spent in the hallway? The look on Ratchet’s faceplates was a calculating one, and it made Starscream all the more nervous. He knew that look - he had worn that look. That was the look of someone intelligent presented with a particularly interesting problem. 

“All of Thundercracker’s partners need to drink a medical grade a few joors before interfacing with him,” Ratchet said slowly, watching both Seekers. “It will help the eggs harden faster and there are necessary nutrients that Seeker’s can’t produce for grounders that the frames will need.”

Starscream felt the building panic in his spark, and instantly pulled away from Skywarp as far as he could without stepping into a wall. The younger Seeker’s wings drooped in dismay - what had he done wrong now?

“Ratchet, may I have a click?” Starscream hissed, defensiveness in his wings and posture that matched up to the last time Ratchet talked about required interfacing with him in the room. He flicked a wing at Skywarp dismissively. “Warp, go see how Thundercracker is.” The black Seeker jumped, startled to be acknowledged suddenly. Maybe Starscream was only mad at Ratchet? He nodded and rushed off to do as Starscream had ordered, not wanting to take any chances.

Ratchet waited for Skywarp to be gone before fixing Starscream with a look of understanding. “I’ll give you enough for just Skywarp and Thundercracker,” he said, carefully keeping his voice neutral. “I know a _victim_ when I see one.” Ratchet turned, helm held as high as his tone had been low, walking away as Starscream’s wings rattled and he spat static, too outraged to even articulate the words he needed. 

Ratchet had suspected from the low amount of transfluids Thundercracker already had in him that one of the trine hadn’t been participating, and reviewing old memory files made it easy to know who. Starscream’s behavior here only cemented his belief. He took a moment to update Starscream’s medical file, flagging it as high security. He included his suspicions of who was responsible for the Seeker’s troubles, despite knowing how risky it was. 

Optimus was trying so hard now for peace between the Autobots, Decepticons, and neutrals. It wasn’t fair to put this burden on him so soon. But it wasn’t _right_ to neglect his duties as a medic either. He sent Starscream an encrypted file, requesting that he come in for a private check up later, and providing a list of mechs that Ratchet knew had the education and ability to offer therapy and counseling. Should Starscream choose to recover, he would be given the best help.

Ratchet loathed that it wasn’t enough, hated how much had been lost to the war, sacrificed in the name of lies and treachery - on both sides. But it was all that he could offer for now, and he hoped that Starscream would understand and take the offer. For his own sake, and for the trine’s and the twins’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many things are what makes out muses for this story sing, but mostly it's rp experiences that we toss in or just random thoughts we pass back and fourth and through others'. This is why when you all comment we take notes of what you want to see and if we like it and can find a way to incorporate it while keeping the characters in character to the story we will likely use it. :} We may do this story mostly for our own joy and as a way to hang out and spend time with each other, but at the same time we do it for you all too.


	6. Hatch Day

Chapter Six: Hatch day

The following orns had been long and trying for the seekers, especially Starscream. Damage control was far harder than he had expected. A new respect for Thundercracker began to form over those orns, considering for the millennia it had been his second doing damage control for him. He’d never realized how much he took the larger Seeker for granted until now.

However, despite the newly forming respect, Starscream swore that the moment the eggs were laid he was getting revenge on Thundercracker. His mate had scratched him, neither of them could remember why after the fact, and he’d nearly lost his optic. Of course, his threats were false, and he wouldn’t dare hurt his mate, but the threatening and puffing up angrily made him feel better. It helped him to forget the pain in his face until his self repair took care of it.

What was even more distressing than the face incident, was that something had gone wrong with the carrying. The frames, which Ratchet had said were _supposed_ to develop in separate eggs, had moved together almost the moment the sparks were in them. They were so close that they were formed into a single egg instead. Ratchet’s scans had told them that one frame was dying, getting smaller and smaller, and the trine had faced every appointment with dread. They were constantly worried that this time, Ratchet would tell them they’d lost a spark. That this time… they had failed in aiding the truce.

Fortunately, however, one appointment had brought surprise and relief to everyone. A routine scan had shown that the dying spark had seemed to level out as soon as the two frames were the size a normal seeker would be within an egg. The talk of being stunted in frame and processor was a big threat, but they were all sure now that at the very least, the little bitlet wouldn’t die before ever seeing 

Although, the threat of stunted frame and processor was one that had Thundercracker denying the medic and starting up his nesting a little bit earlier than expected. 

The berth room had been torn apart, literally. Anything soft had been scavenged by the blue seeker and used for the softest, plushest, nest, and it still wasn’t enough for him. He debated with Starscream for hours about what the nest still needed, how they didn’t have enough to build a proper one and that the hatchlings wouldn’t be safe until they did. Starscream had to lower himself to begging. He’d went before the Prime and Megatron and bowed low, asking for more materials. His mate had growled his engines hard and threateningly. Demanding something be done.

The Prime had told him not to bow, not to beg, that he would get what he needed. Megatron had just scuffed but didn’t argue against the Prime. With more than enough blankets that he and Skywarp could carry, they hid a few for after Thundercracker laid and gave up the urge to nest. _If_ he gave that urge up that is.

Sitting together later that same orn, Thundercracker was being a happy slagger and using Starscream as a pillow- the seeker couldn’t get up to go do his work like he wanted- and Skywarp, equally as happy as Thundercracker, was his blanket. Starscream was the only one who wasn’t radiating happiness, but it was just part of his pride, not allowing himself to appear anything less than regal, no matter what he was doing. In truth, he was just as happy as his trine mates.

This happy only lasted, of course, until Thundercracker keened in pain and pushed the youngest seeker away. Starscream dared not move other than to lay his datapad down slowly, optics locked on his mate. The blue seeker turned over, every movement seeming to steal his ability to cycle air through quickly heating systems, and he curled his digits around Starscream’s thighs. Dents formed under his grip, and it had to be painful, but Starscream kept as still as he could. “TeeCee?” The pain did show in his vocals, however, he couldn’t hide that. Again, his mate keened and Starscream realized after a moment that he recognized the position.

Aft up, arms spread fairly wide apart, shoulders down.

“Skywarp! A basin of warmed cleanser, now! Contact Ratchet too!” Servos flattened over wings and he began petting them, rubbing hard but not painfully so. Soothingly, actually, and even he had almost forgotten that he was capable of such gentleness. The grip on his thighs eased and Thundercracker began panting. “Relax, breathe, let it happen. Let the egg out.”

“I- I don’t want to! I- I don’t want to lay!” Thundercracker was panicking, and Starscream regretted the pain and trauma that kept him from renewing the trine bond, wished that he had so that he could comfort his second. Thundercracker just kept babbling, and Starscream kept petting his wings. “Never did Stars, never wanted to get sparked- I- I love them, I don’t want to let them out!” Thundercracker had never wanted to get sparked, never wanted to lay, and for so long Starscream had respected that, never forced it. He wouldn’t have once the war started, but even without war... They’d always planned for whoever was to be their third to be the one to carry. But Skywarp was not a second nor was he big enough for this. He could have easily held one spark, but never lay two eggs for his first nest. They’d been sure these twins were going to be two, and that’s why it had been TeeCee. Why Starscream had used the trine leader overrides to make Thundercracker accept the sparks.

He couldn’t take it back, not now. But he regretted the pain he put Thundercracker through.

“Stop fighting it,” he growled. He had to push him again, even though all he wanted was to give him anything and everything he asked for, no matter how dangerous. “Thundercracker, you have to lay your egg. You’ll be able to touch the egg, cuddle the egg, and when they hatch you’ll be able to protect them, teach them, and watch them grow. If they are in you forever how will they play? How will they learn? How will they live?”

“I- I _want_ to hold them, forever- S-slag! This why I never- never wanted to be the carrier-”

“I know TeeCee,” Starscream soothed. He put effort into his words now, dropping the screech from his tone and lowering it, making it smoother. It was hard, and he couldn’t do it for long periods of time - just another thing to talk to someone about, if he could ever bring himself to take that step to recovery. “I can’t wait to see their frames, to see them in your servos. Don’t you want to hold them?” It was manipulative, he knew, but it was also effective.

The door opened - too loud, too fast - and Skywarp came rushing in. Behind him was Ratchet, and an already edgy Thundercracker saw the glint of a needle and the panic rose again. He snarled and hissed, ready to attack, and Starscream’s wings went up high, tense and rattling. “Get out!” he screeched. The fool of a medic! That was something he would have expected of a novice, not a fully trained medic with so much experience! 

A turbine turned on and Thundercracker blasted it towards the medic. Skywarp squawked, and warped to next to Starscream to avoid the heat and burns. Ratchet, however, was forced to retreat out of the room. 

“Stars-?” Skywarp was worried. Thundercracker was the calmest of them, and Skywarp had only seen him act this way a few times - and usually toward Starscream.

“Lock the door,” Starscream ordered, then in a softer tone, “He’s gone TeeCee, you protected them. Let them out, you have to be able to protect them better.”

Thundercracker cried out as his chassis opened up in a sequence that he couldn’t stop. The egg was beginning to push through a channel, trying to escape. The hatchlings wanted _out_ , and they wanted out now. As Starscream gave encouraging coos, Skywarp began to mimic his trine leader and pet wings. It seemed that he’s realized that the more Thundercracker relaxed, the better. When the egg finally came free, Starscream snatched it up to dunk it in the water and carefully wipe it clean. Skywarp took up another cloth and set to wiping his whimpering elder clean.

Thundercracker didn’t once take his optics off the egg, and Starscream was very deliberate in keeping it in view, going so far as to twist his arms a certain way so that he didn’t block the view.

When both egg and carrier were cleaned, the single egg was passed over. Tiredly, Thundercracker curled up around it, protecting it. Starscream curled himself on the other side, folding his wings back, and Warp was invited on top, completely protecting the softly glowing purple egg. “Don’t hatch yet,” Thundercracker begged softly. “Please, not yet, I’m not ready, let us- let us have time with you, like this.” 

The moving forms within the egg had eased their constant shifting and seemed to curl together. Their field teeked their creators’, and they agreed. A bit longer wouldn’t hurt any of them, not really.

.~:*:~.

A bit longer turned into a decaorn, then two, and three, and just as a sol came around there was speculation that the twins wouldn’t ever want to hatch. The Seekers didn’t seem to mind. They were all huddled together in their little suite, where they sang and took turns cuddling the egg. Together, they made sure to bathe it with more love than they’ve felt in a long, long while. With each orn that passed, however, the three of them got closer and closer, slowly but surely mending what had broken between them.

The first orn after the egg had been laid, Starscream had retreated to sleeping in the ruined berth. As time passed, he’d worked his way back to the nest little by little, until it was a very willing trine leader who was snuggling with Thundercracker and Skywarp both at night. 

Tonight, Thundercracker was in the large sunken tub, filled with warmed oils to lubricate his aching frame. He wasn’t meant to bow over or curl up as much as he had been recently, rarely leaving the nest or daring to let the egg go unprotected for even a moment. However, sitting in this tub now, after interfacing with Skywarp in it only joors ago, he was feeling so good, and couldn’t believe he’d gone so long without this relaxation. Skywarp was curled up to him, purring contentedly. Almost nothing could make this better. 

Except…

“Stars?!” Thundercracker asked in shock, sitting up suddenly and almost shoving Skywarp face first into the oil. The smaller Seeker made an indignant squawking noise, but managed to recover fairly quickly and looked up. His optics brightened in shock, and he gaped as Starscream strutted in, egg bundled safely in his arms, and looked down at them. There was a cold calculating look in his optics that had both his trine mates struggling not to squirm. Well, Thundercracker was pretty sure that his bath was about to end. The good thing that he’d wanted to join was about to ruin it instead.

Just as both large seekers were about to call it quits and get out, Starscream stepped into the oil, letting himself sink in and loosening his armor to let the oil flow over all his sore joints. “You don’t mind, do you?” His tone was a bit harsher than he wanted it to be as he asked, sounding more commanding than the hurt note he was successfully covering. He wanted to be welcomed here, but never once since the egg had been laid, or even before that, had Thundercracker or Skywarp invited him to join them. This was another step backwards that he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to admit to. He couldn’t decide who, if anyone, was to blame.

He held the egg possessively and trilled to it as he gently, almost lovingly it seemed, cleaned it and himself. He needed the distraction, something positive to focus on. He was determined not to show the hurt or jealousy that he felt, believing he had been rejected, or that Thundercracker and Skywarp would leave now that he’d shown interest. It was disgust with himself, disgust that his trine didn’t want him because they didn’t like him, disgust they were far too kind to show so he made himself believe it out of paranoia more than anything, that had made this take so long.

They didn’t leave, however. Thundercracker moved closer to Starscream, surprising him, and carefully took the egg, passing it over to Skywarp. “Stars,” he purred softly, welcomingly, “Thought you’d never join us.”

His focus was gone, taken from him, and without the egg in his arms it was harder to hide his agitation, his fear, his pain. He reached for the egg, claws curling demandingly. “What are you doing?! Give them back!”

In the time it took to cycle air through system fans, Thundercracker’s large frame was suddenly pinning Starscream to the edge of the tub, and the trine leader struggled not to flare his field with fear. “TeeCee,” Skywarp began softly, concerned, but he quieted with a pulse of Thundercracker’s field.

“Relax, Stars. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want. Just kisses, okay?” Servos touched neck and cheek, soft touches that, if Starscream dared to let down his guard, felt something like love. “I won’t hurt you Stars, I- I want to learn to love you again. For them. For us.” He leaned forward and, lightly, he kissed Starscream. It was only a simple touch, a brush of lips against lips. Thundercracker was patient, waiting. For all three Seekers, it felt like an eternity was smashed into that single moment. Starscream had made the decision a Sol ago to risk kissing Skywarp, so why not now?

Why not now was because the moment Starscream gave in, the moment their glossas flicked against each other hesitantly, Skywarp squawked and looked down at the egg, distracting them. The glow had intensified, and there was obvious movement within the little shell. “These two seem to have the worst timing,” Starscream sighed, but he was smiling. The three of them got out of the tub and dried off, wiping excess oil from each others’ frames. They had a bit of time before the egg should crack, and they wanted to get in what little touches they could. Just as they return to the nest and settled in, cracks began to form on the egg. Worried twitters escaped the trine before they remembered that there were two forms working for freedom, not just one.

Time went too fast and too slow all at once before two little servos broke through the shell. Little squeaking sounds followed, and Starscream and Thundercracker chirped and cooed encouragingly at their little ones, while Skywarp slipped away to fetch a basin of warmed water. Slowly, the shell was chipped and scraped away by determined little servos - complete with claws, to Starscream’s surprise - and then Starscream and Thundercracker gently scooped up one little frame each. Black and blue servos worked gently, but swiftly, to clean the pink fluids off the little mechs, and cynical horror grew between the Seekers as they began to reveal that there were not only distinguishable frame modifications upon the twins, but glaringly obvious paint schemes were also already beginning to show.

“Son of a-” His vocalizer cut off, forcefully, before the curse escaped from Starscream. Despite the identities of their new charges, Seeker coding was still in effect, and he wasn’t about to start teaching them swear words at only a few kliks old. “I knew it was odd to _never_ see those two around anymore!”

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe looked up at their creators with large, bright amber optics, and in that moment the Elite Seeker Trine of the Decepticon army knew that they were doomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be not only cute times ahead but hard times. For both factions and all the characters. We are finally going to get out of focusing on only the trine to seeing how varied reactions from bots and cons will be to the news of the sparklings and how certain mechs and femmes react to knowing the identities of the new babes~ As of now there will be three different people or groups that we will follow. Most of the story will be focusing on Third-Person Omniscent (I think) for the most part. Like with The trine we see how they all are thinking but not how Ratchet or Optimus completely feel but we will get a sense of it. We will mostly focus on the trine, the twins, and one other group (two mechs). This is more or less a warning of OTP's that there will be in the future and that we will be talking about shit that kinda hits home and touches on reality. :} enjoy~


End file.
